Historical and biographical record of southern California; containing a history of southern California from its earliest settlement to the opening year of the twentieth century, Part 124

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1366

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WILLIAM SPROUL. Now engaged in the livery and transfer business in Santa Barbara, and known as one of the successful business men of the town, Mr. Sproul was born in Al- legheny county, Pa., April 7, 1839, and comes of an old Pennsylvania family. In the same state also occurred the birth of his father, Na- thaniel. a blacksmith, who in 1854 removed to near Viola, Mercer county, Ill., where he en- gaged in farming and where he died in 1899 at the age of eighty years. The mother. Jane (McGinnis) Sproul, was also a native of Penn- syivania, and died in Illinois. She was of Scotch descent and was the mother of seven daughters and three sons, of whom six are liv- ing, William being third. One son, John, is now a resident of Los Angeles, Cal.

The education of Mr. Sproul was acquired in the public schools of Pennsylvania, and at the winter schools in Mercer county. Ill. In 1859 he started across the plains with four horses and three companions, going along the Platte river, with Pike's Peak as their destination. On the way. however, they met some returning "Peekers" with doleful stories of misplaced confidence and unrealized dreams, and these discouraging reports caused the travelers to proceed to California. At Ash Hollow they changed their horses for two yoke of oxen and one cow, and crossed to Wyoming, Sweetwater and Humboldt. and finally brought up at Chippes Flat, Nevada, in August of 1859. For a time Mr. Sproul engaged in horticulture near Marysville, and then turned his attention to lumbering. finally starting to raise hogs with considerable success. Eventually, the brown cinnamon bear was his undoing as far as hogs were concerned. and in the fall of 1860 he re- moved to Los Angeles and engaged in teaming. From 1863 until 1868 he was a stage driver on the overland route between Los Angeles and

Samuel Hill

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Santa Barbara, after which he teamed and con- ducted a transfer business in Santa Barbara. June 15, 1868, he started the first truck wagon in the city, and from then on gradually in- creased his business until he had four wagons in use. The present livery business is the out- growth of this first enterprise, and in connec- tion therewith is conducted a general transfer business. In 1888 Mr. Sproul built his livery and transfer barn at No. 516 Anacapa street, which is 40XII2 feet in dimensions. He has been very successful in his business, and has a large patronage from the town and surround- ing country. Other interests have also com- manded his attention. At one time he built a soap factory, but this was sold after having been operated at a loss for two years. He is a Republican in politics, as are also his sons. Formerly he was a Knight of Pythias.

The marriage of Mr. Sproul and Clara Bal- enzuela, a native of Santa Clara, Cal., occurred in Santa Barbara. Mrs. Sproul comes of an old Spanish family, and is the mother of the following-named children: Addie, who is Mrs. Prince, of Los Angeles; William, who is with his father in the livery business; Myra, at home; Alfred, who is with the Southern Pa- cific Railroad Company; Walter, also with his father in the livery business; Alvin, who is with the Southern Pacific Railroad; Harry, who is with his father in business; and Carl.

SAMUEL HILL. That adverse conditions build up the strong is a truism emphasized in the life of Samuel Hill, one of the large land owners and successful ranchers of Ventura county, A native of Lancashire, he was born March 21, 1815, a son of Samuel and Sarah Hill, who spent their entire lives in England, and who died at the ages respectively of sixty and forty years. Their son received his educa- tion in the public schools of his native land, and in time prepared himself for the future by learning the trade of miller, for which he served as an apprentice for four years. In 1835, when nineteen years of age, he immigrated to the United States, landing at Quebec, Canada, where he lived for a year and a half. He then located at Dubuque, Iowa, and practiced his trade for about seven years, and after a short sojourn in England returned to America in the days of California gold. Animated by the same desire which caused thousands to endure the hardships and dangers of crossing the plains, he gathered together sixteen men, whom he agreed to pilot to the gold fields, with the un- derstanding that they were to work for him for a year after being safely conducted thither with1- out present expense to them. The journey was undertaken with horse teams and without par- tienlar incident, and at the end Mr. Hill found

himself enriched by experience, but sadly in ar- rears as to work expected from his companions in travel, who separated in their respective paths, and were never more heard from.

The first year in California Mr. Hill wan- dered around taking inventory of the prospects for the future, mining and prospecting. At Spring Hill, the famous quartz mine, named for Mr. Hill and a spring found on the premises, he and P. Y. Coal operated the mine, and also carried a small stock of miners' supplies. After losing all they had in the world, Mr. Hill decided to forswear mining forever, and so located in Amador county, where for sixteen years he engaged in ranching with considerable success. So impressed had he become with the excellent money making chances in California, that in 1876 he bought his present place of six thousand and five hundred acres in the Conejo valley, twenty-five miles east of Ventura. In partnership with a Mr. Edwards he went into the sheep business, a hazardous venture, and by the next year, owing to long continued drought, he had barely eight hundred left out of the original nine thousand sheep. As recompense for the loss he gave up sixteen hundred acres of land. and at the present time has fifty-six hundred acres left.

After years of arduous labor Mr. Hill has to show for his pains one of the finest ranches in . Southern California, and where once was an arid desert, are now fields covered with barley, wheat, and beans. Two thousand acres arc under cultivation, and as a portion of the land is rented out there is a regular village of barns and cottages for the tenantry. The water sup- ply is one of the best in Ventura county, an inexhaustible supply being piped from the mountains two miles distant, which is used for all purposes, and furnishes sufficient to maintain at least three hundred head of cattle. The home of Mr. Hill is modern in construction, and con- venient as to arrangement, water being supplied to every portion of it by a two hundred and seventy-five foot pressure. It has also a gas machine and telephone, the whole constituting one of the truly delightful California homes.

February 28, 1870, Mr. Hill married Mrs. Sarah Middleton, widow of Thomas Middleton, who died in 1864. Mrs. Hill is a native of Coun- ty Durham, England, and a daughter of George and Margaret (Grant) Cooper, both born in England. By her former marriage Mrs. Hill had five children: Thomas and Anthony, who are living at Redlands; Margaret, who is the wife of George Worts, of Vacaville, Cal .; Saralı L., the wife of William Ratsler, of Benu- mont, and Elizabeth, who is the wife of Joseph Howard. of Congress, Ariz. In national politics Mr. Hill is a Democrat, but has never devoted more time to politics than is expected of all loyal citizens. With his wife he is a member

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

of the Episcopal Church, and contributes gen- erously towards its maintenance.

JAMES BARKER. The deserved reward of a well-spent life is an honored retirement from business, in which to enjoy the fruits of former toil. After a useful and beneficial career, Mr. Barker is quietly living at his pleas- ant home in Pasadena, surrounded by the com- forts which earnest labor has brought to him. His residence in California dates from the 10th of October, 1885, just fifty,-seven years from the day he was born, in Union, Me. He was the eldest child of Israel and Caroline (Nye) Barker, natives of Maine, and the parents of one son and one daughter, Eliza Ann. When these children were still very young the wife and mother died and subsequently the father married again, afterward continuing to make his home in Union, Me., where he followed the machinist's trade. During the last six years of his life he was an invalid.

The only part of the year when James Barker could attend school was during the winter sea- son, when the snow was so deep that work on the farm was suspended. At such times hc waded through the drifts to the schoolhouse a quarter of a mile away. When seventeen years of age he began an apprenticeship of four years to the trade of a cabinet-maker, after which he spent a similar period with Frank Rice in the cariage manufacturing business. His first busi- ness venture was made at Belmont, Me., where, with a capital of $1,000, he started a carriage manufacturing business. So successful was he that within six years he had sold out the busi- ness and was the happy possessor of $5,000, but unfortunately his next enterprise, the manu- facture of bobbins for cotton mills, was less successful, and after one year in that business he sold out. Going to Searsmont, Me., he en- gaged in the manufacture of carriages for twenty-two years, meantime accumulating a neat property. Considerations of health finally led him to dispose of the factory and seek a change of climate. After a winter in Los Angeles, he came to Pasadena, where he has since built a residence at No. 409 North Los Robles avenue. During the boom he bought and sold considerable property and made a neat little sum, his experience in this respect being far more satisfactory than that of many people. In politics he is a Republican, while fraternallv he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the blue lodge of Masons in Maine.

In Belmont, Waldo county, Me., Mr. Barker married Miss Mary L. Bicknell, who was born and reared in that town. Her father, James Bicknell, for years a farmer of Maine, finally settled in Lawrence, Mass., and there remained

until his death at eighty-two years. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Barker were named as follows: Herbert E., now deceased; Caroline Elvira, wife of N. S. Leithed; and James Ed - mund, an electrician living in El Paso, Tex. The family enjoy the acquaintance of many cultured people, and all delight to enjoy tlie hospitality for which the family home is known.

N. H. HOSMER. In the quiet but earnest and conscientious discharge of his duties as a citizen and horticulturist Mr. Hosmer has passed the many years of his residence in Sierra Madre, where he holds a high position by reason of the recognized value of his citizen- ship and the unwavering integrity of his char- acter. The family of which he is a member ranks, both in paternal and maternal stock, among the early established residents of the historic city of Concord, Mass., and in that town he was born May 18, 1844. being next to the oldest child of Nathan S. and Ruth Lee (Hayward) Hosmer, likewise natives of that colonial Massachusetts town. His father fol- lowed the building business throughout all of his active life and died at Concord when he was eighty years of age.

In the midst of scenes made famous through events of the Revolutionary war and through the later connection therewith of such literary lights as Emerson, Hawthorne and Miss Alcott, the boyhood years of N. H. Hosmer were un- eventfully passed. At the age of seventeen he was graduated from the high school of Con- cord, Mass., after which he began to earn his own livelihood, his first work being that of clerk in a grocery. Being of an industrious and economical disposition, his earnings were carefully saved and in 1878 were utilized in his removal to California, at which time he settled in Florence. He was accompanied by his wife, whom he had married in 1872 and who had previously been Miss C. W. Hathorn, of Solon, Me. A residence of a few years in this western region convinced him of its advantages for permanent location, and he has since remained in the state, with the exception of the summer of 1881, when he visited in Concord. During the fall of 1881 he settled at Sierra Madre and bought twenty-six acres, all in brush. Im- mediately he set about the task of bringing the land under cultivation, developing from it a finc ranch of citrus and deciduous fruits. At the opening of the boom, he laid out the Hosmer subdivision to Sierra Madre and platted a large number of lots, disposing of all of his land with the exception of eight acres, which latter con- stitutes his home place and is in oranges. Be- sides the management of his orange orchard he is now engaged in promoting his gold mining interests in the Mojave desert.

During the many years of his residence at

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Sierra Madre Mr. Hosmer has watched with in- terest the gradual development of this locality, the redeeming of farms from great stretches of land covered with brush; the planting of fruit trees whose generous crops make this indeed a land of plenty; and the settlement of the farmis by a desirable class of citizens. In politics he is a stanch Republican and has for years been committeeman of this precinct. Fraternally he belongs to the Knights of Pythias.

SETH C. ARNOLD. By reason of his re- moval to Southern California in 1885, Mr. Arnold experienced all the excitement incident to the boom, as well as the serions depression that followed, and he is now witnessing the more substantial era of growth and commercial activity. Soon after his arrival he opened a furniture store on the corner of Main and Fourth streets, Los Angeles, and this he con- ducted for six years, when he sold out. During the boom times he bought considerable prop- erty in Pasadena, but much of this has been sold. He now owns two lots, 80x400 feet, where he has erected a neat residence and planted many English walnut trees, together with fruits of various kinds.

In Otsego county, N. Y., Mr. Arnold was born March 21, 1833, being a son of George M. and Betsey Arnold, natives rspectively of Vermont and New York. When a boy his father settled in Otsego county, N. Y., and there in time he acquired the ownership of two hundred acres, forming the family homestead. The seven children in the family were named as follows: Joseph C., of Burlington, N. Y .; Seth C., of Pasadena, Cal .; David N., Betsey R., Ellen, Otis P. and Edson, all of New York. It is noteworthy that all of the seven married and had children. Seth C. supplemented attend- ance at the public schools by a course in the Albany (N. Y.) State Normal, from which he was graduated in 1851, receiving a state certifi- cate as teacher. For fifteen years he engaged in educational work in New York, after which he was for two years principal of the schools of Monmouth, Ill. Removing to Iowa in 1858 he taught for five years in Iowa Falls, after which he settled on an eighty-acre farm he had previously purchased. However, in 1865, hc moved back into the city and opened a general mercantile store, which he conducted for ten years. During 1875 he moved to Marshall- town, Iowa, and bought a stock of furniture. after which he continued in that business for ten years, and, on removing to California. brought his stock of furniture with him. Of late years he has been retired from business re- sponsibilities, except such as are connected with the management of his property interests. In various places where he has made his home positions of trust have been offered him, but

he has no desire for public life, and, aside from voting the Republican ticket, takes no part in politics. In religion he is of Universalist faith.

The marriage of Mr. Arnold and Miss Jennie Wells took place in Iowa Falls, Iowa, Mrs. Arnold having removed to that city from her native town of Warsaw, N. Y. Her father, Joseph Wells, was a stone mason and con- tractor, and attained advanced years, dying in Iowa. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold consists of the following children: Clara, who is the wife of George Andrews, of Marshall- town, Iowa; Nellie, Mrs. W. B. MacNider, and Harry Otis Arnold, of Seattle, Wash.

A. W. ARMSTRONG. The records of the Armstrong family in America indicate that they were early residents of Pennsylvania and main- tained an active connection with the develop- ment of that state. From there Dr. Alfred M. Armstrong removed to Ohio and engaged in the practice of his profession at Doylestown. Some years ago he retired from practice, but he is still remarkably robust for one of ninety- two years, and advanced age has not quenched his interest in movements tending toward the progress of his state and nation. His son, Al- fred C., was born in Ohio and made railroad- ing his principal occupation in life, being for twelve vears purchasing agent for the Lake Shore Railroad and for four years holding a similar position with the Santa Fe. On retiring from business, he came to California. and sub- sequently made his home at Altadena until 1893, when he passed from earth's activities. Four children were born of his marriage to Mary Warner, a native of Ohio, her father, Lucius Warner, having removed to that state from his native city, Waterbury, Conn. The Warner family is of remote Scotch extraction.

The second in the family of Alfred C. Arm- strong was A. W. Armstrong, of Altadena, who was born in Cleveland, Ohio, April 19, 1861. It being the desire of his parents that he should have excellent educational advantages, he was sent to Brooks Military Academy in Cleveland. Ohio, and later became a student in Yale Col- lege. from which he was graduated in 1882. Taking up an active business, he selected the occupation of a marine engineer, and this he followed for eight years, principally with the firm of Harlan & Hollingsworth, of Wilming- ton, Del. On coming to the Pacific coast in 1891, he bought ten acres at Altadena. These were in seedlings and he at once replanted in navels, while he also planted seven acres in lemons. The grove has become one of great value, and its thrifty appearance, as well as the fine quality of its products speak volumes for the scientific skill of the owner. Besides man- aging his ranch, he is interested in stocks in the industrial line.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

During the residence of Mr. Armstrong in Wilmington, Del., he married Miss Effie Ful- enwider, who was born in Philadelphia, Pa. The' children born of their union are named as follows: Margaret Owen, Henry Fulenwider, Alfred Warner, Jr., Mary Warner and Catherine Gwynne. The family are identified with All Saints' Episcopal Church, in which Mr. Armstrong officiates as vestryman. While in college he was one of the leading members of the Delta Psi Fraternity. In politics he is a believer in the principles of Democracy as viewed by Cleveland and other leading sup- porters of sound money and free trade. The office of postmaster of Altadena, to which he was appointed during the administration of President Cleveland, is still filled by him with characteristic zeal and ability. Golf and other outdoor sports have an ardent friend in Mr. Armstrong, who has been honored by election to the office of president of the Country Club of Pasadena and is now filling the position, his executive judgment and enthusiasm having done much to promote the welfare of the club.

COL. CHARLES BENTZONI, U. S. A. While general history treats of the great events of the past and records the rise and progress of governments, biographical history deals rather with the individuals who make the nation's history, and the record of army officers is therefore peculiarly appropriate. Glancing over the record of Col. Charles Bentzoni, both when in active service upon the field of battle and when stationed at frontier posts in time of peace, it would seem that the words "America expects every man to do his duty" had become interwoven with the innermost fibers of his be- ing. Faithfulness to duty was the watchword of his whole career as a soldier, and, now in the twilight of life's long day, as he dwells upon the past and reviews his connection with military affairs, he may feel a just pride in the part that he has borne in maintaining the honor of his country among the nations of the world.

In Dantzig, where he was born October 11. 1830, Charles Bentzoni was reared and edit- cated. At seventeen years of age he entered the German army, in which he remained for seven years, meantime receiving promotion from the ranks to a non-commissioned officer. In April, 1857, after a voyage of two months from Liverpool, he arrived in New York City on the sailing vessel, Thornton, and for a month remained in the metropolis. May 12, of the same year, he enlisted as a private in the regular army, and was stationed on Governor's Island as an instructor of infantry. January 4, 1861, with two hundred men, he started for Fort Sumter, on the steamer, Star of the West, under the orders of General Scott. January 9. after the steamer had crossed the bar, it was

fired upon by the batteries of Morris Island and Fort Moultrie, and was compelled to return to New York. These shots were the very first fired by the Confederates in the Rebellion.

During the latter part of July Colonel Bent- zoni was assigned as first sergeant of Company D, Eleventh United States Infantry, a newly formed regiment. November 20, 1861, he was appointed second lieutenant, and March 17, 1862, was made first lieutenant. During 1862- 64 he served in the army of the Potomac. In November, 1864, he was made colonel of the Fifty-sixth United States Colored Infantry, and during the two following years commanded the eastern district of Arkansas. September 30, 1864, he was brevetted captain for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Poplar Spring Church, Va. March 13, 1865, he was brevetted major and lieutenant-colonel in recog- nition of his valor in the war. On being mustered out of the volunteer service, Septem- ber 15, 1866, he rejoined the Eleventh In- fantry, as first lieutenant, and subsequently was appointed a captain in the Fortieth Infantry, of which General Miles was the first colonel. His commission as captain dated from July 28, 1866. In 1869 the Fortieth United States Infantry consolidated with the Thirty-ninth, forming the Twenty-fifth United States In- fantry. In this Colonel Bentzoni continued until December 4, 1891, a period of twenty-five years and six months, when he was promoted to be major in the First Infantry, and with the latter he continued until he was retired October II, 1894, by reason of having reached the age limit. During his long connection with the Twenty-fifth Infantry he served in the Indian country from the Gulf of Mexico to the British Northwestern Territory, and had numerous en- counters with hostile Indians.

From March, 1867, to April, 1869, Colonel Bentzoni was stationed at Fort Macon, Plymouth, Raleigh and Goldsboro, N. C., and from there was transferred to Fort Jackson and St. Philip, La. Subsequently his stations were as follows: Fort Quitman, Tex., May 17, 1870, to August, 1871; commanding at Fort Bliss, May 27, 1871, to June 27, 1872; Fort Quitman, June 20, 1872, to January 5, 1877, as commander of the post; Fort Clark, Tex., February 3. 1877. until May 16, 1877; leave of absence until May I. 1878; commander at Fort St. Felipe, Tex., from May 1, 1878, until September 5, 1879; thence transferred to the garrison at Fort Stockton, a lonely station about six hundred miles from the railroad, and in the central part of Pecos county, Tex., to reach which con- sumed his time from the 5th to the 19th of Sep- tember; Fort Randall, Dak., from August 2, 1880, until September 4, 1882: on general re- cruiting service at Buffalo, N. Y., from October 4. 1882, until October 12, 1884; in garrison at

WILLIAM C. CROWELL

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Fort Snelling, Minn., from November 1, 1884, to May 18, 1888; in garrison at Fort Shaw, Mont., from May 21, 1888, until June, 1891; thence transferred to Fort Buford, N. D .; re- ceived his majority December 4, 1891, and was assigned to the First Infantry with station at Angel Island, San Francisco Bay, Cal., where he remained until his retirement from active service. From November, 1894, until August, 1896, he resided in Los Angeles, after which he spent a few months in San Francisco. April 10, 1897, he started upon a trip around the world, during the course of which he visited Honolulu, spent six months in Japan, six weeks in China, two months in India, and two months in Egypt. He next visited Turkey and Austria, and afterward traveled in other European countries. His first wife had died many years before and while on his tour of the world he married Mrs. Gertrud Von Schlutter- bach, whose mother was his first cousin. The ceremony was solemnized in London, England, August 26, 1899. Returning to this country, he landed in New York June 3, 1900, and for a few months remained in that city, coming from there to Los Angeles February 11, 1901, and purchasing the residence at the northwest corner of Thirtieth and Flower streets which has since been his home.

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Historical and biographical record of southern California; containing a history of southern California from its earliest settlement to the opening year of the twentieth century, Part 124

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918 Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co. Number of Pages: 1366

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1366